Just One Night
by LiliumInterSpinasx
Summary: A Golden Swan story I've had sitting in my blog for a while. Emma realizes her true feelings for Mr Gold
1. Chapter 1

"Henry, come on," Emma Swan called up the stairs. "You're going to miss the bus."

Henry appeared at the top of the steps, carrying his bag in one hand. "I'm ready," he said as he walked down the stairs. "Besides, you can drive me to school if I miss the bus."

Emma shook her head, and ruffled his hair as he reached the last step. "I have to go to the station. I can't be driving you around, kid."

Henry grabbed his coat off the rack by the door. "Come on then," he called over his shoulder.

Emma just rolled her eyes and grabbed her red jacket, following him out the door.

On the walk to the bus stop, Henry happily chatted away about what they were going to do in school today, but Emma's mind was elsewhere. She had gone to Mr Gold's shop last night, just before he closed up, and they had spent a good twenty minutes just talking. There was just something about him that, when they were alone together, made her easily relaxed. She recalled the look he had given her when she had told him about something that had happened at the station the other day; he'd seemed genuinely intrigued by her story, and his face had been so warm and friendly. She was pulled from her thoughts as Henry suddenly asked if she was paying attention.

She blushed slightly, and smiled down at Henry. "Yes, of course I was listening."

"Then what did I just say?" he asked with a knowing grin.

_Smart kid._ "Alright, I was thinking about something else," she admitted with her own smile.

Henry nodded. "I knew it. What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing of interest," she smiled. They reached the bus stop, and Henry gave her a quick hug before he jumped onto the bus and disappeared among the crowd.

It was a particularly slow day at the station, so Emma went for lunch a bit earlier than she normally would have. Walking into Granny's, she saw Mr Gold standing at the counter talking to Ruby and she suddenly felt a bit flustered. _He's never here during lunch_, she mused as she tried to sneak past him down to the other end of the counter. Ruby spotted her over Gold's shoulder and waved at her. Gold, of course, turned around to see who she was waving at and when he saw Emma he gave her a smile; Emma meekly returned the smile before scuttling off to her seat. Gold watched her with amusement before paying for his order, and deciding he would join her for lunch.

"Mind if I sit here, dearie?" he asked, sitting down next to Emma.

She started and looked over at him with a slightly guilty expression. She had been staring down at the counter, silently begging him to not come over. "No, of course not," she said when she regained use of her brain. She looked pointedly away from him, and waved Ruby over to take her order.

Ruby came over immediately, smirking slightly at Gold sitting next to her and Emma shot her a look. She ordered herself a coffee and burger, biting hard on her lip to stop herself from asking to get it to go. As Ruby turned to get the coffee, Gold looked over to Emma to see her pointedly looking away from him. He frowned, hoping he hadn't made her uncomfortable by sitting with her, but she had said it was okay. When Ruby set Emma's mug down, she noticed Gold frowning and shot him an encouraging smile before heading into the backroom.

Sneaking a look at Gold out of the corner of her eye, Emma saw he wasn't paying attention to her anymore, or so it seemed, so she flicked her curtain of hair back out of her eyes and reached for her coffee. When Mr Gold spoke, she jumped so much that she toppled the mug, sending scalding hot coffee over the counter and towards Gold.

"Shit, sorry," she said as Gold jumped out of his seat to avoid the coffee.

"No problem, dearie," he smiled and, with a wave of his hand, the stain on his crotch had vanished. Not that she was looking there, of course.

Emma blushed, quickly righted the mug and started mopping up the coffee with napkins, looking anywhere but him.

Back at the station, Emma sat at her desk staring down at the papers without really seeing them. Her mind was back at the diner and her embarrassing incident with Gold. After Ruby came out to help clean up, Emma had quickly eaten her burger and all but ran from the diner to the great amusement of Gold. She shook her head slightly and frowned at her desk. She really needed to keep her feelings about Gold under control better. She thought back to when she had apologized to Gold as she tried to clean up the spill of coffee on the counter; he had just waved it off as nothing when he normally would have snapped at the person. Especially when one of his suits was in danger of a giant stain on the crotch of his pants.

Before Emma could peruse that line of thought anymore, she heard footsteps coming towards the door and heard Henry call out as he raced through the door. She stood and went to hug him, glad for the distraction. Henry sat on the chair facing her desk and told her about something he had made at school while Emma tidied her desk to leave.

As they walked out the door to go get some ice cream, Henry said casually "Oh and I saw Mr Gold outside the station when I got here."

Emma stopped walking and turned to Henry. "Mr Gold?"

"Yeah. He was just standing on the path and looking at the door. I asked him if he was going in, but he shook his head and walked away. Weird, right?"

"Yeah," Emma muttered, her mind racing. _Gold had been outside? Why hadn't he come in?_ "Weird."


	2. Chapter 2

Walking out the door of her apartment, Emma saw her mother and Henry come running up the hall towards her.

"Hey, whoa. What's going on?" she asked as Henry skidded to a stop in front of her. "What happened?"

"It's Gold," Mary Margaret panted. "He has David!"

Emma felt the panic rising up inside her, but fought to keep calm."What do you mean Gold has David?"

Henry grabbed her arm and started tugging her down the hall, with Mary Margaret trotting after them. "There's no time," Henry told her as he kept pulling. "We have to find Mr Gold!"

Confused but worried, Emma let her son drag her outside and towards her car. Emma opened the door, and turned to Mary Margaret briefly. "Where was he headed?"

"We're not entirely sure," she started, and Emma fought not to roll her eyes at her mother. "But he headed in the direction of the town line."

Swearing under her breath, Emma jumped in the car and took off as soon as Henry was buckled safely in.

Luckily, there was next to no other cars on the road, as usual, and Emma speed through the town.

Glancing over at Mary Margaret, Emma noticed she was rather pale and fidgeting with her scarf. Shooting her a forced smile, she asked "Do we know why he has David? What does he want with him?"

From the back, Henry piped up. "We don't know. We just saw David in the passenger seat of Mr Gold's car, and he looked unconscious."

Emma frowned, wondering what on earth Gold could want with David. _Why was he taking him to the town line anyway? Had he found a way to cross the line without losing his memories? What would he need with David though? And what was over the line? _These and a million other thoughts race through her mind as she drove towards the town line. She wasn't paying much attention to the road as a consequence and had to slam on her brakes when she saw Gold's Cadillac parked on the right side of the road, not three meters from the town line. She could indeed she David in Gold's car, and she fought against the rising wave of panic. She had to try to stay calm and strong for Henry's sake.

Everyone scrambled out of the Beetle and Mary Margaret made to race towards David, but Emma held her back.

"Let me go, Emma! What if he's hurt?" Mary Margaret tried to twist her wrist out of Emma's hold, but she just held on tighter.

"We don't know where Gold is," she muttered. "He's the main issue here."

As the two woman argued, Henry carefully snuck over to the Cadillac, keeping an eye out for Gold. He didn't think Gold would hurt him, he seemed to have a bit of a fondness for him, but he wanted to be careful anyway. Henry peered through the tinted passenger window and saw David slumped on the seat, unconscious but definitely alive. As he reached for the door handle, he heard Emma shout his name. He turned around and saw Emma running towards him.

"It's okay," he called back to her. "David's okay!"

"I don't think that's quite what she meant, dearie," a voice came from behind him and he spun round to see Mr Gold casually leaning against the boot of his car.

Trying his best not to look scared, Henry stood his ground next to the car door. "What do you want with him?"

Mr Gold gave a laugh and took a step forward. "It was never him I wanted," he said in a mocking tone.

Henry frowned at him, and suddenly noticed Emma sneaking up behind Mr Gold. He quickly looked back to Gold so as not to give Emma away. "Who do you want then?" he ventured and Mr Gold's eyes lit up slightly.

Without a word he spun around, knowing Emma was behind him and she stopped frozen in her tracks. "I want you, dearie."

Emma stood rooted to the spot, her eyes trained on Gold's face. He had a knowing smile in place and was looking at Emma in a strange way, with an emotion she couldn't quite place. Suddenly, he reached forward for her and as his skin touched hers she felt on odd heat radiating from him, before they vanished from sight behind a burst of purple smoke.

When the smoke cleared and Emma could see again, she ripped her arm away from Gold, though he wasn't holding her as tight as she thought he would be and she stumbled back, tripping and landing on her bum.

She looked up at Gold with a slightly surprised look on her face and could see him struggling to hold in a smile. She glared at him and scrambled to her feet, knocking his hand away when he offered to help her up. Looking around, she realized she was in the back room of Mr Gold's store and she looked at him, confused. "We're in your shop?"

"But of course. Where else would we be, dearie?"

She shot him a look at the teasing hint in his tone and sighed. "This had nothing to do with David, did it? You just wanted to get me to your store."

A small smile played over his lips as he answered her. "You're quite the smart one, Ms Swan."

Emma couldn't tell if it was intended as a compliment or not, but she took it as one. "Thanks," she said flatly, her eyes roaming the walls. She had never been in the back room of his shop before, and she eyed up the bed with a raised eyebrow. "Why am I here?" she asked, still looking at the bed in the corner.

"You haven't figured that one out yet?" he teased and her eyes shot back to him. "Very well let me give you a hint." He walked over to the bed she had been staring at, and sat on the edge.

She was confused to say the least. Was this his hint? Or did he just want to sit down? If not, what the hell was he getting at? She felt the heat rising in her cheeks and this made her blush even more. She quickly turned away from Gold as she got her emotions under control, but judging by the soft laugh from his direction, she guessed he had seen. Emma stared hard at a small antique vase, fighting against the emotions swirling in her gut, refusing to entertain the notion of her and Gold. _That's not what he meant_, she told herself sternly, but the little voice in her mind smugly reminded her of what Gold had said when he turned to her earlier. She turned away, both from the memory and the vase, and looked back at Gold who was calmly watching her. "What do you want?" she tried again.

"Oh, I want many things," he replied vaguely, but she saw the glint in his eyes.

She sighed and walked over to plonk herself down on the bed next to him. "Why did you go to so much trouble to bring me here?" she asked suddenly. Surely there were better ways of getting her to his shop without kidnapping David in the process.

"Because you wouldn't have come if I had just asked," he stated.

She opened her mouth, about to say she would have, but closed it as she realized she wouldn't have come without a fight. "But why kidnap David? Mary Margaret will be looking for me now, worried sick."

"No need to worry about her, dearie. She's not going to remember."

Emma frowned and went to ask why she wouldn't remember, before changing her mind as she realized he didn't answer her other question. "So, why David?" she pressed.

Mr Gold shifted slightly, and his knee brushed against hers, making her heart beat faster. "I thought I needed him, but then I realized it would work better with you."

Emma's heart stuttered as she considered the double meaning behind his words. "What would work better?" she asked quietly.

Mr Gold didn't answer straight away, but put his hand lightly on her knee; Emma almost stopped breathing.

"What do you want me for?" Emma forced out, trying to keep her mind out of the gutter. She couldn't say she had never thought about Gold in that way, because she often had, but she never let her thoughts go further than kissing him.

When Mr Gold turned to look at her directly, her heart skipped a beat. His eyes had darkened from their usual chocolate brown to almost black, and she could see the lust dancing in his eyes. When he spoke, she noticed that his accent got a bit thicker. "Just one thing for tonight, dearie," he muttered, before he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

Emma froze in shock, her eyes wide, but soon they slipped shut as she warmed to the idea of his lips on hers, and without warning she was kissing him back. She heard him move again, sliding closer to her and she turned her body, bringing one leg up under her on the bed. Just as she had decided she would happily continue kissing him forever, he pulled back from the kiss. Her eyes flew open and she saw him smirking at her. Deciding she hadn't quite finished, she grabbed the lapels of his suit and pulled him back to her, kissing him hungrily.

Gold growled low in his throat and pushed her back onto the bed, one arm around her waist to hold her close, the other moving up to tangle in her hair. Emma gasped slightly and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. She made an appreciative noise and one leg moved up to hook around Gold's thighs. He chuckled slightly, and deepened the kiss even more. After what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few minutes, Gold pulled back again, smiling down at her. Emma grinned up at him, slightly embarrassed but too full of want to really care. Using the leg she still had wrapped around his legs to keep him in place, she quickly flipped them over so that she was on top. Emma laughed at the shock on his face, and bent down to kiss him lightly. He pulled her back when she moved away and she giggled, happily going in for another kiss.

When Gold's fingers started making their way down her body to her jeans, she silenced the voice in her head that told her this was a bad idea- the one that sounded a lot like Mary Margaret- and slipped her hands under his shirt. _One night can't hurt_, she thought to herself as he began to undo the button on her jeans.


	3. Chapter 3

Emma woke the next morning to the smell of fresh coffee and a voice speaking softly in the next room. As she shifted and stretched, she suddenly realized she was naked. With a frown, she looked around the room, and as she took in the antiques in the back room of Mr Gold's shop, everything suddenly came flowing back; Gold bringing her here, them kissing on the bed, and then them having sex on the bed. Emma groaned and flopped back on the pillows, tossing her arm over her eyes in a vain attempt to block out the memories of Gold's lips on her skin.

"Ah, good, you're awake," Mr Gold's voice interrupted her thoughts and she bolted up in bed, completely forgetting that she was naked. Gold raised an eyebrow at her, and she quickly pulled the sheets up around herself.

"What- why are you in here?" she snapped, mostly out of embarrassment.

Gold laughed at her as he came in and sat a cup of coffee down on the table. "Well, this is my shop, dearie."

Emma ignored him and picked up the coffee. It was hot and rich and smooth, the perfect drink.

Gold sat on the edge of the bed, suddenly looking a bit nervous. "I ah, took the liberty of getting some clothes for you. They are in the bag there," he motioned towards a large blue bag that sat on a desk in the corner.

Emma eyed him over the mug. "You brought me some clothes?"

"Yes well, I couldn't go get some from your apartment now, could I?"

"I could have worn my clothes from yesterday," she muttered, pointing to where her clothes had fallen the night before. Except they weren't there anymore.

"I took your clothes to the dry-cleaners Now, I suggest you get dressed and we can talk over breakfast." Gold stood and walked out the door, not looking back.

_Right then,_ Emma thought. _Back to business, I guess._ She crawled out of bed and grabbed the bag of clothes Gold had brought for her. Crossing back to the bed, she tipped the contents out and spread them across the covers. There was a white singlet, a green plaid over-top and a pair of black skinny jeans. Pulling everything on, she tied her hair into a ponytail and out the door, pausing on her way to grab her red jacket off the back of the door.

She found Mr Gold leaning against one of his counters, examining something, a bag from Grannies sat at the end of the counter. He looked up when she came in and smiled. "It looks good, Ms Swan."

Emma glanced down at herself and shrugged. "Yeah, I like it," she smiled back at him and walked over to the bag of food. "Now, back to the main question. Why did you bring me here?"

Gold sighed and placed the item he was examining back under the counter. "Like I said, dearie, I need you for something."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Yes, but what? You never said."

"Oh, I know," Gold replied as he reached into the bag and pulled out a bagel.

Emma bit into the croissant she'd pulled out and stared him down. When he didn't elaborate, she moved onto her next question. "Why me?"

"Because you are the best person for the job."

"Ah, so you have a job for me? Is that it?" Emma guessed.

"Well, yes and no," Gold replied evasively.

Emma let out a groan of frustration. He was doing it again, avoiding answering her properly, and she was pretty sure he was doing it just to be a dick. "What sort of job?"

A small smile played over Gold's lips as he started on his bagel.

_Yup, defiantly being a dick_, Emma thought. _Well, two can play at this game_. "So, was this just you looking for a one night stand?"

The question seemed to catch Gold off guard and his eyes shot up to hers. "No. No, that's not what this is."

Emma bit her lip to hold back her grin. She was going to enjoy this. "Of course it's not," she said in a disbelieving tone.

"It wasn't that. I just-"

"Right, because you wouldn't have given me this if it was," she cut in, gesturing to her clothes.

"Exactly. It wasn't a one night stand, Emma."

She cocked an eyebrow at him calling her by her first name, but continued. "So you want to do this again, then?"

"Yes," Gold answered quickly. "No. Uh, I mean, yes I would like to, but no that's not what this is. That is, I didn't bring you here for just that. Not that I didn't enjoy it..." he trailed off, staring down at his food.

Emma started laughing then and he looked back up at her, startled. She noticed that his cheeks were slightly flushed and laughed more.

"Sorry," she laughed. "You're cute when you get flustered." The smile dropped off her face suddenly, had she really just said he was _cute?_

Gold smiled back at her, letting the comment pass, and she relaxed again. After a moment, she asked "Why am I really here?"

This time, Gold didn't try to avoid the question, but he didn't look happy about answering it either. "Well, I brought you here to ask a favor of you."

Emma looked at him curiously, waiting for him to continue. He did so with a sigh. "Look, I know we don't exactly get on, but I figured you don't hate me as much as everyone else here does. They can't seem to get past the fact that I'm Rumpelstiltskin."

"I don't hate you," Emma confirmed. "I may not like you at times, but I certainly don't hate you." She left out the fact that she thought she might be falling for him, just a bit. "What kind of favor?"

"Don't worry, dearie. It's nothing dangerous."

Emma laughed. She was pretty sure getting involved with Mr Gold in any kind of way was dangerous. "Well, what is it?" she pressed.

Gold was silent for a moment, staring past her. "Well, every year there is a dance held in the Town Hall, a mayor's ball, and everyone goes," he said, without looking at her.

"Okay," Emma nodded, unsure of where this was going.

"Would you like to go with me?"

_**A/N: Oh man, you can tell it's getting late when you start writing in the voice of The Doctor instead of Mr Gold... Anyway, I bet you all think you know where this is going? Ha, you have no idea! I mean, Emma says yes, but other than that... -laughs evilly- **_


End file.
